ULTRASTRUCTURAL AND HORMONAL CHANGES IN THE CONTRALATERAL ADRENAL-GLAND IN UNILATERAL ADRENAL-GLAND ISCHEMIA - AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY IN RATS

While it is well known that unilateral tissue ischemia may result in c ontralateral damage in some paired organs, there is no universally acc epted mechanism to explain why these contralateral changes occur, The aim of the present study was to investigate the ultrastructural and ho rmonal changes that occur in the contralateral nonischemic adrenal gla nd after unilateral ischemia of an adrenal gland in a rat model. The a nimals were divided into four groups of four rats each; namely, a cont rol group which received a sham operation without any ischemic insult, a 2-h ischemic group, a 4-h ischemic group, and an 8-h ischemic group . The left adrenal blood vessels were ligated in all ischemia groups a nd blood samples were taken for hormonal study 2, 4, and 8h later, aft er which bilateral adrenalectomy was performed to determine the ultras tructural changes. The plasma concentrations of aldosterone and cortis ol were determined by radioimmunoassays. There was an increase in both aldosterone and cortisol levels related to the duration of the ischem ia, but the differences among the groups were not statistically signif icant. Contralateral ultrastructural damage such as heterochromatin in nuclei, mitochondrial degeneration, endoplasmic reticulum cisternal w idening, increased lipid droplets, and lysosomes, were demonstrated el ectron-microscopically after unilateral adrenal ischemia.